Tavern Tales - Interviews

Interview with NightWolf121

NightWolf121 is the writer from the diverse dark fantasy story 'Anita'. 

Could you introduce yourself and how did you start writing on Wattpad?

I learned about Wattpad when I was 15 or so, I was writing my very first story, that I started when I was a kid in this little notebook, (before I realized how inconvenient it was to word for word type an entire story from a notebook onto a computer) in my French class and this girl in my class was doing the whole "what are you writing" 20 questions. I was very shy back then, anyway she wrote poetry on Wattpad so she told me about this site. So I typed up my little 25k word story and started posting it on here, that was back in 2013. Honestly though it wasn't until 2015 that I really got active on here, I wrote 4 more stories that year and found the forums, and I lived on this site. I ran the NewStoriesLibrary account for a year or two, was really active in an LGBT thread on the forums where I met some awesome people that I still talk to nowadays.

That feels like so long ago. I got so busy I didn't write a word for almost 5 years. Now I'm 25 and I work on a farm milking cows, which is not at all what I expected to be doing, but it's a very relaxed environment. I listen to audiobooks for my entire shift to pass the time. I do some work with a local cat rescue when I have a chance and adopted two cats from them. A few months ago I randomly got a notification from the Wattpad app, logged in, read some of my old stuff and was like, I want to finish this story. Then I got back into writing, within a few weeks I finished Trial of Fates, started a prequel for that, did some skim edits of my old stuff (and took one down cause it needs way more work) and finished the short story I had for Anita.

What inspired you to write Anita?

A dream I had, I'm one of those people who just has wild dreams, and sometimes I make a story out of them. It didn't go exactly as planned, but I am really happy with how Anita turned out. (It's honestly the only story I've written that I haven't internally groaned while re-reading it down the line.) I started writing it in 2016, when I was just finishing highschool. My friend NatIsNotMyRealName helped me a lot as well, whether to beta read, edit or just bounce ideas off of. They're not active on WP anymore unfortunately, but we still talk occasionally on Facebook.

What is your favourite character from Anita and why?

Meriam, I love people who do things for kindness' sake. She doesn't gain anything by helping Anita, it just throws her life into chaos, but she does it anyway. Those are the kind of people you want to be surrounded with.

What is a unique or interesting detail from Anita that you've implemented in the story?

Probably the "Herects", they're basically zombies, but I didn't want to do the standard walking dead. (I'm not hugely into undead creatures.) I wanted to make it just a bit different, so the Herects that were made from people, instead of only having to worry about being bitten, just a touch from them would spread the corruption, but slowly and in a treatable way. It was also something that made them a dangerous threat, but not immediately deadly, since I didn't want to kill off characters so quickly.

What is your favourite YA fantasy story to read and why?

This is a hard one, specifically YA, I'd have to say the Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead. It's a spinoff of the Vampire Academy series, following an alchemist (humans that work to cover the existence of vampires) who gets roped into vampire drama, and slowly realizes that they're not as bad as they're portrayed by her organization. I'm a sucker for people who break free of their expectations and come to think/live for themselves, even if it's the harder choice.

Recently though, I've read the Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros and I'm in love with it, but I think it borders that line between NA and YA since the protagonist is 20. It's about a really harsh dragon rider academy where you "graduate or die". The protagonist has brittle bones and weak joints, and spent her entire life training to be a scribe, but her mother is a general and forces her into the dragon rider quadrant. It was absolutely not what I was expecting when the library recommended it to me and I was blown away. I've read it and the sequel 4 times already.

Are you a planner, pantser or plantser?

Absolutely a pantser. I have a cool dream that gives me a bit of a world and characters to work from and then I just write what comes to me. I've only recently started making little cheat sheets to refer to, because I used to accidentally change details about my characters as it went, and then it wasn't consistent, but that's about all. I don't even know what's going to happen until I get there.

What are your favourite tropes to read or write about?

I'm a bit of a sucker for love triangles, though I don't like writing them. I really like stories that have a strong female lead. Even if they're not physically strong, they're smart or fast enough to save themselves. The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs is one of my all-time favourite series, it's about a coyote shapeshifter that ends up being raised by a werewolf pack, and gets into all sorts of trouble. She's physically weaker than the wolves/vampires/fae etc, but she holds her own and significantly contributes to the situation. I live for those characters.

What is your ideal writing environment?

I prefer to write when the house is empty and it's quiet. If there's too much noise, or music then I often lose my train of thought. I work night shifts now, so I mostly write after work, just before bed. That also helps prevent me from overthinking, since I'm too tired, and I find I write better if I'm not questioning it as much. I can always go back and edit later.

Do you intend to write another YA fantasy story in the future?

Absolutely! I currently have seven stories in mind. I'm just really trying to focus on one at a time right now. I've just finished a new adult werewolf story I started 6 years ago that I've been posting weekly, Trial of Fates, and then I got way too deep in that world so I started a prequel for that one, which I guess is more in the YA range since Natania is 16 for the majority of it.. Then I have a dystopian story I've been playing around with and yeah. Right now it's a matter of getting the time to sit down and write.

Do you have any advice for other aspiring writers?

Write what you want to write, there is an audience for everything. It might just take a bit longer depending on what it is. But even if you only get a few readers, you still created something and you learn from it, and you get better as you go. The only way you lose is if you give up.

Thank you for the interesting interview, hopefully we will see one of your seven stories soon on the platform!